i was just going through http://www.brainwashvictim.com/ and was kind of reminded how everything changed around 1992. i have seen it change when i was a kid, small wheels and stuff, but it just entered my mind that it really happened over night. i mean, isn't it weird, without a hint everything changes and will never be the same?

Of course it's a conspiracy. Small wheels suck and they make people who skate them look like idiots. I've seen kids who ride small wheels actually pushing to go down a hill. It's a concerted effort by skate companies to control how fast kids get going with their products: i.e. Liability.

In my book, anything smaller than a 58mm is useless. When I skate, I wanna go fast. Give me bigger wheels, or give me death! (preferably a 60mm to 63mm)

-M

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"I don't wanna walk around with youI don't wanna walk around with you I don't wanna walk around with you So why you wanna walk around with me?I don't wanna walk around with you I don't wanna walk around with you. . . 1 2 3 4. . . " -Dee Dee Ramone

55's are where it's at. Isn't it funny how much of a difference a few MM can make? I don't see how kids rock 49s and shit. I don't really see the advantage. I guess it makes it easier to grind ledges and shit, because your truck isn't angled as much. But fuck that! I level it out by grinding a groove to the axel in the back truck...

I remember the lil weenies and the small wheels. it was the time when all the pressure flips and all the weenie tech stuff came out. Most of us were still trying to blaze and then there was the little donk doing a pop shove it at a half a mile an hour listening to Pennywise, or Sublime, sportin the huge pants.

GOSH DURN IT THESE WACKY TEENAGERS WITH THEIR MODERN MANEUVERS MAKE ME ANGRY.

that's what you guys sound like, you know. just saying.

and curb, the "conspiracy" you speak of was vert. in a move of epic stupidity, the industry spent much of the 80's trying to convince kids that vert ramps and skatepark bowls were the only thing worth riding a skateboard on.

then kids in the other 99% of the world outside of california told their dinosaur asses to shut the fuck up with the sound of a million slappies. then all that silly pressure flip shit happened. blame rocco.

I was being overly dramatic in that earlier post. I think wheel size is pretty much dependent on what kind of skating one plans on doing and where (riding surface). there is no conspiracy, just practicality. If your gonna skate technical street shit, then smaller, harder wheels are what ya need. Still, it seems companies went off the deep end when it came to making wheels, decks and trucks smaller and smaller. I'm seeing a backlash against this these days. The most common requests I get at the shop are:

Decks- 8" to 8.25"Trucks- standard 8"Wheels- 54mm and up

What I think is lacking these days is a variety in wheel durometer. It seems wheels are ultra hard (heading into the b scale) or marshmallow soft (78a). I always got a kick out of experimenting with different wheel hardness... finding what duro worked best (in my own opinion) for the riding surface. If ya look hard enough, it's still out there.

-M

p.s. I'm not the kind of skater that hangs out on the corner playing a game of horse. That kind of shit isn't fun for me. I like bigger wheels 'cause I like to haul ass... move around... go places. To each there own, though. As long as you're having fun, that is what's important!

« Last Edit: December 30, 2008, 04:48:13 AM by hardcoreskates »

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"I don't wanna walk around with youI don't wanna walk around with you I don't wanna walk around with you So why you wanna walk around with me?I don't wanna walk around with you I don't wanna walk around with you. . . 1 2 3 4. . . " -Dee Dee Ramone

I can pretty much tell you exactly how it happened. Jemery Klein, probably the most popular skater at the time, had an interview in transworld where he said he always skated other peoples old wheels. Around 40mm or 45, I don't remember exactly what he said. The next day everyone was riding small wheels.

Also, he started the cut off shoe trend. At the time high tops were popular. Jeremy would cut his down and duct tape the tops.

i was just going through http://www.brainwashvictim.com/ and was kind of reminded how everything changed around 1992. i have seen it change when i was a kid, small wheels and stuff, but it just entered my mind that it really happened over night. i mean, isn't it weird, without a hint everything changes and will never be the same?

any conspiracy theories?

I think back then with the lack of the internet and just a minute amount of media coverage as compared to today, kids like myself that were in the Midwest just didn't see "changes" until the next video. Back then videos were way less frequent and at the small wheel time there was an explosion of innovation in flip tricks. Every video and almost everyones part had some NBD in it. At least that's what the "street" skater market was after at that time. Some companies figured it out. Rocco definitely figured it out.

Around that time is when dudes(in the Midwest at least) that kept it to transition seemed to quit and those that kept on were looking for the smallest wheel to make my board lighter and flip easier. I was a victim of pressure flips. Judging by how many other people were rocking 42mm s and mezmorized by New Deal's 1281.....yeah we all headed in the wrong direction. Skating slow with no regard for properness.

For the record I'm back up to 56mms again from a good ten years of only 52-54mms.